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An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated musical adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. It tells the story of Fievel Mousekewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to the United States for freedom. However, he gets lost and must find a way to reunite with them. Steven Spielberg's first foray into animation and his first with Bluth, it was released on November 21, 1986, to positive reviews and was a box office hit, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film at the time. The success of it, The Land Before Time and Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as Bluth's departure from their partnership, prompted Spielberg to establish his own animation studio, Amblimation, which later become DreamWorks Animation after several of Amblimation's film weren't as Spielberg had hoped, which he cofounded with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Plot In 1885, Shostka, Russia, the Mousekewitzes, a Russian-Jewish family of mice who live with a human family named Moskowitz are having a celebration of Hanukkah where Papa gives his hat to his son, Fievel, and tells of a wonderful place called America, where there are no cats. The celebration is interrupted when a battery of Cossacks ride through the village square in an arson attack and their cats likewise attack the village mice. In Hamburg, Germany, the Mousekewitzes board a tramp steamer headed for America. The crossing proves itself long and onerous, as well as the tramp steamer being buffeted by an angry sea. During a thunderstorm, Fievel suddenly finds himself separated from his family and washed overboard. Thinking that he has drowned, they proceed to New York City as planned, though they become depressed at his loss. However, Fievel floats to America in a bottle and, after a pep talk from a French pigeon named Henri, embarks on a quest to find his family. He is waylaid by conman Warren T. Rat, who gains his trust and then sells him to a sweatshop. He escapes with Tony Toponi, a street-smart Italian mouse, and they join up with Bridget, an Irish mouse trying to rouse her fellow mice to stand up to the cats. When a gang of them called the Mott Street Maulers attacks a mouse marketplace, the immigrant mice learn that the tales of a cat-free country are not true. Bridget takes Fievel and Tony to see Honest John, a drunk but reliable politician who knows all the voting mice in New York City. But, as the Mousekewitzes have not yet registered to vote, he can't help Fievel find them. Meanwhile, his older sister, Tanya, tells her gloomy parents she has a feeling that he is still alive, but they insist that it will eventually go away. Led by the rich and powerful Gussie Mausheimer, the mice hold a rally to decide what to do about the cast. Warren is extorting them all for protection that he never provides. No one knows what to do about it, until Fievel whispers a plan to Gussie. Although his family also attends, they stand well in the back of the audience and cannot quite see that it is Fievel on stage with her. The mice take over an abandoned museum on Chelsea Pier and begin constructing their plan. On the day of launch, Fievel gets lost and stumbles upon Warren's lair. He discovers that he is actually a cat in disguise, and the leader of the Maulers. They capture and imprison him, but his guard is a reluctant member of the gang, a goofy, soft-hearted cat named Tiger, who befriends and frees him. Fievel races back to the pier with the cats chasing after him when Gussie orders the mice to release the secret weapon. A huge mechanical mouse, inspired by the bedtime tales Papa told to Fievel of the Giant Mouse of Minsk, chases the cats down the pier and into the water. A tramp steamer bound for Hong Kong picks them up on its anchor and carries them away. However, the giant mouse contraption has caused the pier to catch fire, and the mice flee as human firemen arrive to battle it. During the fire, Fievel is once again separated from his family and falls into despair when a group of orphan tell him that he should have given up looking for them. Papa overhears Bridget and Tony calling out to Fievel, but is sure that there may be another Fievel somewhere, until Mama find his hat. Tiger allows them to ride him in a final effort to find Fievel, in the end, the sound of Papa's violin leads him back into their arms. The journey ends with Henri taking everyone to see his newly completed project, the Statue of Liberty, and the Mousekewitzes' new life in America begins. Plot * Phillip Glasser as Fievel Mousekewitz * Amy Green as Tanya Mousekewitz (sung by Betsy Cathcart) * John P. Finnegan as Warren T. Rat * Nehemiah Persoff as Papa Mousekewitz * Erica Yohn as Mama Mousekewitz * Pat Musick as Tony Toponi * Dom DeLuise as Tiger * Christopher Plummer as Henri * Cathianne Blore as Bridget * Neil Ross as Honest John * Madeline Kahn as Gussie Mausheimer * Will Ryan as Digit * Hal Smith as Moe * Dan Kuenster as Jake Songs * There Are No Cats in America (performed by Nehemiah Persoff, Johnny Guarnieri and Warren Hays) * Never Say Never (performed by Christopher Plummer and Phillip Glasser) * Somewhere Out There (performed by Phillip Glasser and Betsy Cathcart) * A Duo (performed by Dom DeLuise and Phillip Glasser) * Somewhere Out There (End Title Version) (performed by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram) International releases * United States: November 21, 1986 * Argentina: December 25, 1986 * Australia: December 26, 1986 * Norway: December 31, 1986 * Peru: 1987 * Soviet Union: 1987 * France: February 4, 1987 * Austria: June 19, 1987 * Ireland: June 19, 1987 * West Germany: June 19, 1987 * Brazil: July 3, 1987 * United Kingdom: July 24, 1987 * Japan: August 1, 1987 * Denmark: October 16, 1987 * Finland: December 11, 1987 * Sweden: December 11, 1987 * Portugal: December 18, 1987 * Italy: December 22, 1987 * West Germany: March 1988 * Hungary: 1991 * Greece: November 21, 2006 International titles * Argentina, Mexico, Peru: Un cuento americano * Austria & Germany: Feivel, der Mauswanderer * Brazil & Portugal: Fievel - Um Conto Americano * Bulgaria: ? * Canada & France: Fievel et le Nouveau Monde * Croatia: Americka prica * Czechoslovakia: Americký ocásek * Denmark: Rejsen til Amerika * Finland: Fievel matkalla Amerikkaan * Greece: American Story * Hungary: Egérmese * Italy: Fievel sbarca in America * Japan: アメリカ物語 (Amerika Monogatari) (An American Story) * Norway: Et amerikansk eventyr - Reisen til Amerika * Poland: Amerykanska opowiesc * Russia: ? * Serbia: Americka prica * Spain: Fievel y el Nuevo Mundo * Sweden: Resan till Amerika * Turkey: Sevimli Fare * Ukraine: ? International dubs For information about international dubs, An American Tail/International.Category:1986 films Category:1980s American animated films Category:American musical films Category:Films produced by Don Bluth Category:Films produced by Gary Goldman Category:Films produced by John Pomeroy Category:Films directed by Don Bluth Category:Film scores by James Horner Category:Universal Pictures animated films Category:Universal Pictures films Category:Half-Disney Feature Animation Category:Non-Disney animated films